I also noticed tonight that I'm getting higher average heart rate numbers than I have previously been able to do. From years of riding and two years of road and track I "know" that my VO2Max HRM is about 172, and I can do about 180-181 without "blowing up". But if I go much over 181 for any amount of time I "blow up" and need to spend significant time at a slow pace to get it back under control (i.e. back to about 172...)

Tonight half way through the L4 session I noticed that I was at about 181 and not really feeling any effects... A few minutes later I was at about 184 and *still* not feeling like I was having any problems. WKO says my best 1 minute was 185, best 2 minutes 184.

Not quite sure how to interpret that. In theory max heart rate is about 186-188... and it seems unusual to be able to sit at 184 for that length of time...

Friday, October 26, 2007

Three races tonight: 4th in 30 lap Scratch, 1st eliminated in Elimination to Scratch and 3rd in 4x10 Points race.

In the 30 lap Scratch race I hung out at the back for the first two thirds of the race and then bridged up to the lead group with about 6 laps to go. Just got on when they ramped up the speed (52kph avg) for 2 laps. I think that was a premature move and the leaders couldn't keep it up, they slowed down to a (relatively) modest 46kph avg with 2 laps to go. I was able to get underneath and follow the fast group make their move into the last 1.5 lap sprint, got over top the slowest rider to get 4th.

Next was an Elimination to Scratch. I wasn't aggressive enough and got locked out on the first sprint...

The final race was a 4x10 Points race (40 laps, 4 sprints). My goal was to hang on for the first two sprints and see if I could do anything in the last two after the other riders started to tire out.

But beggars can't be choosers :-) After 8 laps, with 2 laps to go for the first sprint, the field (pretty much the entire group, 10 out of 14 riders..) slowed down and to a man went up to the Blue line. I was at the back of this group, just above the sprinters lane, just at the beginning of the straightway, about 40m from the finish line. So I jumped from the back underneath everyone. Weird move. But totally unexpected.

And it worked, I got a good gap (apparently about 5m). And just rode it out. Thirty seconds, average power 614 watts, max 841 watts.. Someone actually tried to get around me at the finish line with one lap to go (stupid move on his part) but lacked the power to pull over top, and I maintained the lead to get 1st in the 1st sprint..

That was several matches burnt though. I was off the back for the next two sprints. But managed to get back into the front group (3 other riders) with about 6 laps to go. We gapped the field and maintained that until the final lap. The field did bridge back up and catch us with exactly 1 lap to go, but didn't manage to get around us. I was able to get up and over one other rider and take 3rd for that sprint. Which gave me 3rd overall.

How, what and why to keep warm, must reading for anyone in the Northern Hemisphere whose coach makes them train outside at this time of year.

Update: less than an hour after putting up this post, I saw the following at Pez, the Weather Warrior. Which is a little vest for in between days (too warm to carrier a wind vest, but not quite warm enough that you won't need one at some point in your ride..)

The first 3 Flying 500's where with 50x15 (about 87"). I switched to 50x14 (93") for the last and left that on for the Tempo and Endurance workouts.

I still find that gearing (50x14) more comfortable and seem to be able to get a higher average wattage for longer with it. Even though it was the 4th attempt, the last with the bigger gear was had the best average speed (53kph compared to 52.5, 52.8 and 51.2). And the 10 minutes I spent at L4 felt easier than previous nights. I could cruise along at 42 fairly easily, breathing hard (not heavy). And if I dropped back to 40 I wasn't even breathing hard...

Sunday, October 21, 2007

It was raining (and I was too tired...) to get up for the Velovets 10K TT on Saturday morning. Today would have required a wet suit to go out (although when I went out to the store I saw three mountain bikers climbing up Heritage Mtn in the rain, silly mountain bikers :-) ).

I did get a chance to get on the Computrainer for a bit. So did the Computrainer 10k TT, not great time, 15:57. And then Adnan's Three minute Seven Hill Erg workout (7 reps of 3 minutes at 200, then 3 minute ramp from 200 to 290, with 15 minute warmup and 18 minute cooldown.)

Friday, October 19, 2007

4x4 Win-and-out. I didn't get out... finished near the end of the pack. Hadn't had an adequate warmup... and this was a short (16 lap) race.. so just used it as a (hard) warm up. Tony Zachary took first.

25 lap Point-a-lap. This moved along at a very fast pace, 44.8 kph average speed! Not the highest I've seen in B group, but fairly close (we did an 80 lap Points race at the six day last year that averaged 45.6!)

At about lap 18 I was part of a small dropped group with about 4-5 fast riders in the lead group. I managed to bridge back up to them. Then after a short half lap went through that group to get a point. I kept going and it became apparent that there was no-one behind me... They apparently where all bagged as I went on to get the next 4 lap points as well.

At the line with one lap to go I was pretty much all out, could hear riders behind me, pushed to get that point and then went up track to let them by... And there was really only one rider (I think Iona Wynter Parks, Team Colavita) close! If I had known I could (well maybe...) have kept on their draft and taken another point at the finish (double points for final lap, 2 for first and 1 for second.)

Ended up with a 4th... score one for being able to go long and hard after doing the bridge!

Final race was a 35 lap Scratch. A little slower 42.5 kph average speed, but unlike last week everyone attached and kept the pace up straight through to the finish. Tony Zachary managed a great sprint from about 5 riders back to take first. I was watching from the far side, too bagged to try and keep up with the sprinters on their final lap..

We have out of town visitors this weekend... So probably won't be able to get back on the bike until Monday.. Then Tuesday will be doing BVC Structured workout (Whistle drill again...). Goal is to push high end (L4-L6) and just maintain CTL at or near where it is now through Oct/Nov.

With luck (well more like with hard work) come out next spring with FTP near where it was last season (320 watts) but with 5 sec and 1 minute power numbers way up.

Update 2007-10-26: apparently I got a 2nd in the Point-a-lap... Nick Berry was first.

The best way to train is by going as hard as you can for as long as you can on every ride you do, right? As we begin the off-season in the northern hemisphere, let’s start a periodic series on the idea of base training. First up, we discuss the dreaded “Zone 3 Plateau” and how to begin getting out of the cycle of constant hammering.

The point is well made that you need to train fast to go fast, if you spend all of your time doing L3 then you just get good at doing L3. You need to spend time in your higher zones and you need to speed time in your lower zones to allow ample recovery time to allow your body to adapt.

I take heart that at this point in the season I'm switching to mostly track riding because we have an indoor track locally. That is getting me a fair amount of work at higher levels. And on the occasional days outside it tends to be to cold to go hard..

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Wednesday night at the track. Wanted to try doing 500m TT, to get some base times. Three tries, two 48x15 and one 50x15. All about 41 +/1 1 second. It's hard to get really good numbers as I didn't have a starter, so have to get clipped in etc. Also I'm using computers idea of 500m, which is probably a little low..

I think that a new 500m TT record for my age group, 50-54 was set yesterday at the World Masters Track event in Sydney. That shows David La Grys finishing in 34.138, average speed of 52.73! The previous best was Ray Simonson, 34.834 in 2002.

The best try (although still within the margin of error) was the last using 50x15. Maximum watts where lower (which makes sense, the highest watts are in the initial half lap and it's harder to ramp up the bigger gear) but the average watts where higher (579 vs. 565). Although again, probably within the margin of error for a test this short. Max cadence was also a little lower (I'm not great on high cadence power.)

I have two problems to solve. First getting my short term (5-10 second) max wattage up. Second being able to get my cadence much higher. I tend to top out at 130RPM... I need to move that *wayyyy* up. Some of the sprinters at BVC can get over 200RPM... Don't know if they can get peak power out way up there. But certainly their peak is much higher than 130!

Another note, the Ergomo can't give a TSS number for workouts this short. It was showing TSS as 0 or 1. WKO+ correctly computes the TSS, showing 4.5 for the 40 second effort.

If you could do this once every three minutes (hah!) you would still be under 100 TSS for one hour. Which is of course the definition of FTP, you get 100 TSS if you maintain your FTP (functional threshold power) for one hour (and FTP is by definition the power you *can* maintain for one hour in a TT type event.)

Tuesday, October 16, 2007

Missed workout yesterday. Combination of work and other commitments and weather...

Today's forecast was rain as well, so I decided to go to the Tuesday morning track session. There was a structured workout so I did that. Whistle Drill, which means sit on the blue line, wait for whistle, then (after shoulder check) drop to sprinters lane and sprint until the next whistle. Three sessions (5, 8 and 8 minutes).

Sunday, October 14, 2007

Nothing exciting, just a 3.5 hour endurance ride. Out to Golden Ears park and back.

Did have some mechanical problems, the lock ring on the cassette decided to unlock... So the small 11 cog came loose. Put it back together, did it again... So put it back together again and then stayed out of that gear (not hard really on an endurance ride).

Friday, October 12, 2007

As predicted, B group is very fast, and building. Thirteen riders tonight..

First race was an Elim-2-scratch, I got boxed into the sprinters lane and was first out :-(

Second race was 4x10 points race. Again fast paced. I think I managed to squeak out a 4th in the first sprint. The rest of the race I was just trying to stay near the front. But there where always at least 4-5 faster riders leading out for the sprint. Avg and norm power numbers did move up a bit from last week.

Final race was a 25 lap scratch race. No one wanted to get a pace line going, there where 2 or 3 attempted breaks that we managed to bridge back up to. I ended up at the front with 6 laps to go, way up above the blue line, with no-one wanting to pass or make a move. I knew that Anthony King was close behind so I dived down with about 3.5 laps to go and lead him out. He really enjoyed that, coming around with a half lap to take first.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

And I previously blogged about it here. But realized that after using the new display I ended up changing it again, and that I've been happy with that for several months now. So I thought I would update here.

The Ergomo has two display screens accessed by the top orange button.

Note that the middle line containing watts and speed is the same on both screens. This is the most important (usually) information, and I find it slightly easier to find and read in the middle line.

The alternate display is what I spend most time in when training... So I can monitor heart rate, work done (TSS), amount climbed etc. Also shows wall clock time so I know when I'm late for dinner.

Actually having wall clock time is also important for getting to the start line for time trials... just make sure that you keep it accurate and check with the official starter to see if his "official" time is different.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

My defining moment with aero wheels came unexpectedly, quickly, and at surprisingly low speed. It happened at the Amstel Gold cyclosportif ride in April, as I was coasting along chatting to some other riders. It made a believer outta me – both in aero wheels – and these Bontrager Aeolus 5.0 carbon clinchers…

I'm still surprised at how hard I find it to maintain this power level over this short a distance on the track compared to (e.g. Ryder) TT for 8-10k distances. Not sure if it is bike positioning or fit, or just fixed gear versus normal etc.

Also did a warm up and then a 30 minute tempo workout.

And of course because I got up early and went to the track the predicted 1" of rain never materialized...

After reviewing the last months training and the Mt. Washington HC I suspect that my mid-summer FTP (320 watts) has dropped a bit. I'm guessing 310, probably from about the first week or two of September. This of course makes keeping CTL up a little easier... but of course indicates a loss of overall fitness.

Saturday, October 6, 2007

VVV 10k TT ended up as a no-show. Only 3 riders turned up (and about another 4-5 to help but not ride...) Nobody wanted to go out and get wet... including us... So we voted to postpone.

Picked up some new and water resistant (well more so) booties and neoprene gloves and went out to do an endurance ride. Just to get some miles in. Still got wet and cold. But at least I managed to last for two hours...

Did Anmore Tour as it never gets that far from home. I could always abandon and get home in under 30 minutes... Ford Road would have been more enjoyable, but it gets me up to an hour or more away from home depending on which way I do it. And doing an hour+ if you get too cold is just miserable..

I think the forecast for tomorrow is for more of the same.. hope the shoes, gloves and over boots dry out over night :-)

Friday, October 5, 2007

First night of the BVC Weekly Track Racing for the fall. There where about 10 riders in each of A, B and C/Novice.

Our B group has a bunch of new and fast riders. We started out with a 4 lap Chariot Race. Five up and I only managed to get 3rd. So only got to try for the consolation round and then only manged 2nd.. I think I was under geared (50x15), I was leading the sprint through the last lap and could feel that I was a max RPM (125) but not going fast enough to hold off the two younger guys on my tail.

Second race was a 25 Lap Tempo race. Two points for first and one point for second for every lap. I swapped the big ring so I was on a 51x15, about 92inches. Managed to stay at the front and take a fair number of 2nd places and a few firsts. Average speed was high for B's, 43.5kph. For the most part everyone else was coming up and taking 1-2 firsts and then dropping back. So I managed a 2nd place.

Typically things pick up after the first few weeks ... so it looks like this will be a very competitive series. We could end up with a very large B group. In theory 20 is the max for the size of the track. But anything over 15 for weekly races is a bit dicey. Hopefully there will be another group added (D or B+/A-?) if there are too many riders.

Assuming the weather holds (two gorgeous fall days in a row, with me taking one day off and one day on the track.. figures) the final VVV 10k tomorrow morning. That will be fun after the racing tonight...

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

My impression over the past few track sessions was that my power was a little low. So I did some preliminary bike fit changes. This involved swapping the stem which also meant swapping the bars, getting new bar tape etc (I had the stem and bars, easier to swap than to get a new stem...) to move the bars out and up.

Of course this meant that I got to the track tonight without a mount for the Ergomo...

So we now present the MacGyver Ergomo Bike mount.

Did three sessions, endurance/tempo paced. just getting the track legs back.

Monday, October 1, 2007

First you can specify a "drag factor" percentage in the race window. Default is 100%. The intent (I think) is to allow for more reasonable numbers if you are simulating a more aero position...

Second you can now re-calibrate during a session. Simply use F1 to pause. Then F3 will get you to the normal calibration setting in the handlebar unit. Redo calibration (spin up to over 25, coast, save etc..) then F1 to restart.

Finally you can now enable display of TSS/IF/NP numbers. Look in the options screen and check the TSS/IF/NP box. Don't forget to edit your athlete profile and specify an FTP.